Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!world!boris From: boris@world.std.com (Boris Levitin) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.system Subject: Re: System 7 and Mac Plus/SE 68030 upgrades. Message-ID: <1990Nov5.065457.2872@world.std.com> Date: 5 Nov 90 06:54:57 GMT References: <9514@jarthur.Claremont.EDU> <1990Nov3.122558.28340@rodan.acs.syr.edu> <9516@jarthur.Claremont.EDU> <3117@murtoa.cs.mu.oz.au> Organization: The World @ Software Tool & Die Lines: 69 rob@cs.mu.oz.au (Robert Wallen) writes: >In article <9516@jarthur.Claremont.EDU> wilkins@jarthur.Claremont.EDU (Mark Wilkins) writes: >> Say again why you won't be upgrading to System 7? Are you willing to put >>up with having features of your applications permanently disabled because >>you're not running the latest system software? >But more importantly, can my office survive upgrading when it has no idea which >elements of its software base will blow up till further notice? My case in >point would be Excel 2.2 which worked fine at 6.0.4 but blows up when I make >a menu selection at 6.0.5. Not to mention having downloaded 6.0.7 to see >whether it would fix the problem only to read the fine print that sez it kills >Hypercard (pre-2.0). I mean, what does Apple think its doing building systems >that break ITS OWN CODE!!! >Now YOU tell me what fancy explanation I use to my boss as to why I upgraded >the software on his machine that stopped him from seeing all his old spread- >sheets! Just how many rev's back do I need to keep backups of Apple's system >disks anyway? My, my, things are getting so tense here that Jesse Jackson will soon be making an appearance. :-) SERIOUSLY, 2.2 is NOT the current version of Excel. 2.2a has been around for a year and works fine on 6.0.7 (I don't know about 6.0.5 but would be surprised if it doesn't). Unfortunately, Microsoft has not widely advertised the availability of 2.2a (a very useful update that also fixes the misguided assumtion that if the CPU is newer than a 68000, an FPU exists [causing a massive crash on FPU-less IIsi and LC machines] AND a network file-corruption problem affecting TOPS users [we had an unpleasant encounter with it]). (I keep hearing about a 2.2b update, but haven't gotten around to asking Microsoft to send it to me. 2.2a works fine with 6.0.7, I garrontee it, as Justin Wilson would say.) Same goes for HyperCard. Apple has greatly improved it in v. 2.0, and it's still FREE, so why won't you get it? There's non-stop whining on Usenet by users of obsolete software versions who are refusing to update and complaining of incompatibilities. If you want to keep your system back, this is a free country, but so long as the publishers of your software, Apple or others, have released reasonably-priced or (in the case of both Excel and HyperCard) free updates, you have no moral right to complain. Now, the original Mac II also crashed when you tried to run MacWrite 4.5 (still very popular at that time), because MacWrite 4.5 (not the Mac II) didn't fully follow its own guidelines. Should Apple have not introduced the Mac II so as not to "break its own code?" If it worried about endless compatibility with EXISTING software versions, it wouldn't be able to update the operating system at all. The solution is to warn developers as far as possible in advance (this was done in this case) so they can bring out updates (most of them who were affected did so). >> More to the point, how many people are still running System 5.0? And what >>are they doing with their machines? And if you complain about not being >>able to afford a $35 memory upgrade I'll personally walk to Syracuse and bop >>you in the nose, Sir! :-) >Point me at a store where a megabyte costs ME $35 and my nose is yours for >the bopping. Although Australia may be a little far to walk ;-) US$35 is the bottom end of the price range for 1MB SIMMs in the US. Many of the mail-order vendors at the back of MacWeek (such as the Chip Merchant) will sell at that price, although airmail to Australia would be extra, but then, no-one said that being a community of some 14 (?) million people on an island-continent far away from the nearest civilization was going to be easy. At least it encourages self-reliance :-) Boris Levitin ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- WGBH Public Broadcasting, Boston boris@world.std.com Audience & Marketing Research wgbx!boris_levitin@athena.mit.edu ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (The opinions expressed herein are my own and do not necessarily coincide with those of my employer or anyone else. The WGBH tag is for ID only.)